Another issue that there might be with my suggestions is that there seems to be a limit to the total amount of ships the servers can handle (from what I've read). Well, firstly the fact the player crew and ships have to be used limits the possibility of spam; secondly I think most people would prefer to cut down on random OW NPC spawning if room was made for hauling contract ships (one is random and without an impact on economy, the other is meaningful and player created).

The reason that I put in the pretty strict contract rules is to prevent abuse and scamming. Of course, you can just fill in a trivial compensation amount at your own risk; hopefully the players will figure out where the risk/reward balance is, and how much people are willing to sell their time for, etc. One thing I would like to see though is personal contracts, so you can bypass the public contracting; in that instance it could be a lot more flexible. Likewise within clans.
I did consider the postal service and similar things, but I concluded that it would just artificially increase the time everything takes; and everything already takes a lot of time, so it didn't really appeal to me in the end even though the concept is nice from a realism and immersion point of view.
What I could envision though is some sort of maintenance cost for outposts reflecting the administration expenses (rather than the use of dubloons for Player teleport). If you can't pay the maintenance, your outpost will become dormant so you can't access it from afar (though perhaps it should still be functional if you go there personally).

One thing that has bothered me for a long time is the lack of immersive life and meaningful activity in the OW. What I'm going to propose is something that will hopefully make even those "dead" NPC traders interesting to OW hunters, and at the same time something that may appeal to the aspiring merchant mogul.
Traders all know the bore of sailing for a long time in the admittedly rather dull OW of Naval Action, and OW hunters all know how unsatisfactory it is to capture NPC traders even if they carry valuables, simply because it has no impact on enemy players, therefore I propose hauling contracts in three different variants:
Internal hauling contract: The Player will use own ship(s) and crew. The ship(s) will be fully controlled by NPC on the OW from point A to point B as well as in potential instances.
External hauling contract: The Player puts up a contract for goods to be transported to a specific port. Time limit as well as class range of ship(s) required specified by the Player. Ship(s) provided and controlled by the taker of the contract. Contracts can only be taken by same nation players having the specified ship class (and fleet) ready; you can't leave port without the right configuration. Payment on delivery. Upon failure, the contract taker will pay a compensation specified in the contract - the contract can't be taken if this amount is not owned.
Escort hauling contract: The Player provides the hauling ship(s) from his own dock with his own crew. Time limit as well as escort class range of ship(s) required specified by the Player. Escort ship(s) provided and controlled by the contract taker who is to lead the hauler(s) to the destination. Contracts can only be taken by same nation players having the specified ship class (and fleet) ready; you can't leave port without the right configuration. Payment on delivery. Upon failure, the contract taker will pay a compensation specified in the contract - the contract can't be taken if this amount is not owned.
Now, all of this will be very handy for the traders and crafters, but it will be a boon for the OW hunters as well. Instead of players being limited to one trade run at a time they can now delegate to NPC and other players willing to do the hauling/escorting. This will mean more traffic in the OW, and meaningful traffic at that. No longer will the hunters pass by those boring AI traders without a second thought - perhaps they're carrying a precious load sent out by an enemy player!
Furthermore, this addition would benefit from some changes to outpost management - these have already been partially requested - but I shall briefly outline how I envision it:
All outpost warehouses, docks, and production buildings can be managed from anywhere - even at sea.
This may sound unrealistic or immersion-breaking etc. but if you consider it for a while: does production stop when the owner is away? Is there no staff at hand that can see to it that it is kept up? We must imagine that the Player doesn't only control his navy officer (or equivalent) but also his estate and dock managers etc.
It should also allow you to make hauling contracts anywhere, so you can get produced goods hauled from far away outposts without personally going there.
Another thing that is connected to this is the "tow ship" mechanic. I think this has to be rethought. Either it should be the hardcore way, meaning it has to be sailed, if not by you or another player, then by NPC (similar to the hauling contracts with the possibility of a strong escort, while not having to do it yourself). The moderate version may be to make it take a very long time to reach its destination, though the more mechanics we have that bypass the OW, the more dead it will be.
A hurdle to get past is of course the NPC pathfinding on the OW, but I have every confidence that this can be solved by the developers, and even that it is something that they intend to improve in any case.
I'd love to hear your opinions on these suggestions.

I'm amazed nobody mentioned the PiratesAhoy! so called "Build Mod" or "New Horizons" for the 2003 game, Pirates of the Caribbean (a.k.a. Sea Dogs II). I'm sure quite a few of you must have heard of it or played at least once upon a time.
It's still being developed here, and is, I dare say, the best single player AoS game out there, with tons and tons of content - and you can play it however you like: arcade-ish or realistic.
I'm currently trying my luck as a smuggler which is high risk high reward (got my favourite officer killed, and almost died myself, last time I tried selling on Puerto Rico, getting caught in a four-way fight between bandits, smugglers, natives, and soldiers!).
I play using the DirectSail mode, which means I sail directly between the islands instead of using the World Map. It's great. The only thing I'm missing is the sailing mechanics and combat of NA.

One of the least immersive parts of the game is the OW travelling. Unfortunately it's also one of the things you have to spend most time doing.
I've been dreaming of a non-instance game where everything takes place in the current battle sailing mode - but perhaps I'm just a dreamer and it won't work (unless perhaps for a single player game)...

It may be a bit rude to say, but I believe NA:L will be the only way the NA developers can release a successful game in the end. NA:OW has been limping along for so long, it seems unlikely that it'll ever succeed in retaining enough players for a big OW/MMO to function properly - and in turn bring in new players (which in turn is a vicious circle that only leads to abandonment); not to mention the financial aspects...
Ship combat is what NA is good at, and that really shines through in NA:L. I did not take pause from NA:L because I suddenly found the combat boring, but rather because there wasn't enough players to populate matches, and because I was waiting for three major things: wipe, new sailing model implementation, and F2P release.
With those things, I can't see why NA:L couldn't be a low maintenance side act alongside the OW-game that could even provide a steady income from microtransactions (paints, premium ships, XP-boosts, etc.) and perhaps a portal for some players to move on to the OW (until its inevitable expiry date).
I'm sad that I can't drop in and have an hour or two's fun in NA:L when I feel like a break from all my everyday menial tasks. No other game has succeed in making sailing and cannon shooting such good fun. It would be a pity if it drowns in misdirected (though well intentioned and admirable) ambitions.
I'm only speaking for myself. I know that some people don't like the ship combat without a context (OW), but I'm sure there's a market for a good AoS F2P combat game if it's allowed to spread its wings, which NA:L clearly hasn't been yet.

Game can't be dead before it's been alive.
You'll have to wait for release with that attitude. I'm waiting for release (or at least the inclusion of the new sailing model) before I play again, for much the same reason as you, but I don't see a point in complaining about it at this stage of development.

Please... I just have to call BS here.
1) Going back to battles that were always open would be like having a big lobby where you could just pile in and have a big scrap, completely ignoring the logics of positioning etc. Sure It may be fun as a big, jolly practise arena in NAL, but it has no place in OW.
2) Durabilites make no difference at all in terms of solving the issue you're complaining about. Ships themselves are cheap cheap cheap, what costs money (time and sweat) is getting upgrades and books. Those need to be seriously looked at, not hello kittying durabilites again.

Nation chosen doesn't affect anything, it's only you who see the flag you've chosen - everyone else has the flag of their own choice.
I think what may have happened to you is that you were in a frigate and were paired with a frigate of a similar size rather than together with the smaller ships.
At least that's what I've found: when I go out in my Cerberus and there's a decent number of unrated, but only two frigates, you risk getting into a separate battle with only the other frigate player. That happened twice to BoomBox and myself - I think because I was the only viable player to match him with while he was in an Indefatigable. (Btw, BoomBox, I'm sorry for ending the battles with circle cap, but I just find it too tedious to play against - and with - so many bots).

Well, those are not my words. I have only praise for what you've done up until now; that is also why I passionately hope that we won't take a step back - and I do hope that the "arcadey" things we're seeing now is the result of the fact that many variables (like basic speed and turn rates) haven't been adjusted.
This.